The Object Of Her Affection
by Phoenix Hoshika
Summary: Kisa's focus on Hatsuharu his affection for her, her love for him.


A/N and disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket there would be no way I'd be spending time writing fan fiction based on it.

**The Object Of Her Affection**: Kisa's focus on Hatsuharu; his affection for her and her love for him. 

_He said my voice was beautiful. He said it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He said that about my voice. _

It had been a year since Kisa had gotten over the trauma that caused her to loose her voice and now she was sitting on the back porch of Shigure's house remembering when Hatsuharu told her how wonderful it was to hear the sweat sound of her voice. At the moment she sat watching as an argument between him and Kyou had become heated, enough so that Haru (as friends and family often referred to Hatsuharu as) turned "black". Usually polite and well-mannered Hatsuharu had a split personality. The other personality or alter ego was violent, vengeful, uncontrollable- black. Once Black Haru started on a rampage there was no way of stopping him unless knocked unconscious and even then there was no guarantee that Haru would come to in his right mind. This change between personas took place suddenly and without warning. There was really no way of telling what could invoke the darker side of the usually pleasant young man but those closest to him knew that to avoid the possibility of calling out Black Haru it was usually better to let him have his way when it came to things. Yet, despite Hatsuharu's tendency to "go black" no matter what Kisa did he never showed that side of himself to her. And in a way this made Kisa feel special. Not even Yuki, Haru's closet friend could say that he never encountered Black Haru. And though Haru considered Yuki his closest friend, as Kisa watched the argument progress into a fight she had a feeling that would change, because the unthinkable happened Hatsuharu landed a devastating blow to Kyou's head knock him unconscious.

"Kyouchan!" Kisa yelled coming to her feet when the orange haired young man made no move to get up after receiving the blow. "Is Kyouchan ok?" Kisa asked Hatsuharu as he made his way back over to the porch.

"Don't worry, it's Kyou. He's only sleeping right now." Hatsuharu said in a tone that was an obvious sign that he was still in black mode. "Kisachan, would you like to go for some ice-cream?" He asked suddenly back to normal again.

"But, it's almost time for dinner." Kisa said in slight protest.

"It's okay, Tohru will understand. After all it's a special occasion. Today I beat Kyou so in celebration let's go get some ice-cream. I'm sure Tohru won't be mad if we skip out on dinner." He said with a beaming smile.

"You're not inviting anyone else?" Kisa asked.

"No, just you and me." Hatsuharu said taking her hand. "Shall we go?" Kisa's heart melted. He wanted her and her alone to accompany him.

"Haruchan what's wrong?" Kisa asked noticing the troubled expression on his face.

"I was hoping to challenge Yuki after I won against Kyou, but he's not here, so I'll just leave a note." He said pulling out a small note pad and pen and scribbling "I won." on it, after addressing it to Yuki. Kisa's heart sank. She didn't want Yunchan and Haruchan fighting; they were best friends after all and besides that it meant Haru would be spending more time with Yuki than with her. Even now his thoughts were being consumed with toppling Yuki. Had he forgotten about their date?

"Haruchan…" Kisa said nervously.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think uncle Kazuma would take me as a student?" Kisa asked holding the rim of her skirt with both hands to keep from fidgeting. Kazuma was a material arts master and had taught many of the Sohma children Karate including Yuki, Kyou, and Hatsuharu.

Hatsuharu looked perplexed for a second then smiled. "Why the sudden interest in martial arts?"

"After seeing your fight with Kyou I want to become stronger too." Kisa said. _"I want to become strong and fast so I can defeat Yuki first. That way you'll spend more time with me instead." _She thought hoping her plan to win over Hatsuharu's heart would follow through.

"How about we stop for some ice-cream first, then we can go to Kazumasensei's dojo and you can ask him yourself?" Kisa smiled. "Thank you." She said her smile becoming even brighter. Hatsuharu held out his hand and she happily took it.

The sheep had heard about Kisa's outing early the next day; he was furious, though not at Kisa. That damn ox undoubtedly turned black and had dragged Kisa away to use her as a compass to where ever he was going and Hiro was sure it wasn't to go get ice-cream. The blonde haired boy sat angrily imagining Hatsuharu caring a scared Kisa under his arm as he walked through the door of a shady looking building with a paper sign on the door that read "Cage Fights and Cock Battles". Hiro fumed. That had to be it. There was no way that Kisa, his Kisa would go on a date with another man, especially not that psycho ox. If he could he would have hunted Hatsuharu down that night and beat the stuffing out of him, but Hiro knew he had neither the reach nor skill to actually do so. Hiro was pretty short compared to Hatsuharu and had never studied material arts a day in his life. Challenging Hatsuharu to a match would be like an ant challenging a human- he would only end up getting crushed.

"Kisa!" Hiro shouted standing up when he saw her coming out of the school gates. Hiro had been waiting just outside the gate since classes let out.

"Oh, hello Hiro." Kisa greeted.

"Don't hello me. Tell me what happened. Is it true?"

"Well…" Kisa started. She didn't know how to break the news to him. Kisa had a crush on Hatsuharu for some time but was too afraid to admit it to Hiro; she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Well what? It was a simple yes or no question. Did you really go to the ice-cream polar with that stupid ox or not?" Hiro demanded.

"Yes, yes I did." Kisa said firmly. "And he's not stupid, he's great." Kisa said showing just how angry she was that Hiro would say such a thing about Haruchan.

"How could you Kisa? I thought we shared everything. If you didn't want to be my girlfriend anymore you could have just told me." Hiro started out yelling but now he was crying. Unfortunately the couple had drawn a crowd, now the other children were watching the break up like a soap opera.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I'm sorry Hiro but I love Haruchan."

"How could you think lying to me wouldn't hurt my feelings? Yeah, I still would be upset if you had just told me flat out, but to have me still believing, all this time, that there was something special between us… That hurts a lot worse!"

"Hiro, I'm sorry." Kisa apologized again. "Please, forgive me."

"Don't talk to me. In fact don't even look at me!" Hiro said running off with his arm over his face leaving Kisa alone in the center of a crowd that was staring at her curiously.

Looking at all the peering faces made Kisa nervous. Why couldn't they just mind their own business? "What are you looking at?" Kisa questioned angrily. "Stop staring at me!" She finally yelled than ran away crying.

It was true, she did love Hatsuharu, but it didn't seem he felt the same way. The whole time they were together he treated her like a child. She was thirteen now, a young woman, why couldn't he see that? Kisa was so blinded by her owe tears she could not see where she was running. All she knew as that she wanted to get as far away from everyone else as soon as she could.

"Whoa! Where are you going in such a hurry?" Hatsuharu asked as Kisa crashed into him.

"Haruchan!" Kisa looked up and jumped back in surprise.

"You're crying." Hatsuharu said bringing both of his hands to her face. "Did something happen at school?" He asked with concern.

"Haruchan!" Kisa said burying her face in his chest. She couldn't tell him how she felt and now she was crying, sobbing just like a little child.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I can't say." Kisa answered still sobbing.

Hatsuharu pulled her away and looked her in the eyes. "You know whatever it is you can tell me, right?"

"Well…" Kisa started. "Me and Hiro got into a huge argument and broke up."

"What was the argument about?"

"I didn't want to be his girlfriend anymore." Kisa said quietly.

"Did he do something to make you angry at him?"

"No, it just wouldn't be right to continue being his girlfriend when I did not feel the same way. He's mad at me right now, but it's my fault. I should have told him sooner."

"But you didn't want to hurt his feeling, right?"

"Yes," Kisa answered wiping tears from her eyes.

"Yeah, if you felt that way for a while you should have told him. Telling people the truth can be difficult at times, but things can usually work themselves out in the end." Hatsuharu said reassuringly. "Well at least you told him today. Hiro is very serious minded and the way he was carrying on it seemed he had already made wedding plans." Kisa gulped, she knew all too well how serious Hiro was about their relationship. Most children at their age were more concerned with the latest idol or fashion trend and the last thing on their minds was whom they would marry, if the thought ever crossed their minds at all. "He's very mature for his age, so he has to understand that you might not be ready for such a commitment just yet." Hatsuharu continued.

Hatsuharu's words hit Kisa like a ton of bricks; she was ready for a serious relationship, just not with Hiro. "Haruchan, do you think I'm immature?" Kisa asked shyly.

"Eh? No, it's just that to be so young Hiro seems like an old man sometimes." Hatsuharu said smiling. On the flip side of things he also knew Hiro could be a real brat when he felt like it.

"Yeah, Hiro is really adult like." Kisa said looking down at her shoes. "Haruchan, have you ever felt deeply about someone?"

"Hm, not that I can think of." Hatsuharu answered.

"What about Yunchan?" Kisa asked.

Hatsuharu sweat dropped. "What about him?"

"Don't you love him very much?" Kisa asked purposely testing the waters. "Big sis told me that Yunchan was your first love."

"She did…" Hatsuharu had only used those words to get rid of Tohru, not because he had a dislike toward her, he didn't even know her enough at the time to decide that, but what he did know is that Yuki liked her- he could tell that right away. The only reason he said something so risqué was because he didn't want another incident like the one with Kana to happen again. Yes, Hatsuharu loved Yuki very much but not in the way he had described to Tohru. _"And what would you do if she actually believed you?" _Was the question Yuki poses to him when he found out what he had been talking to Tohru about while he was passed out from an asthma attack. That was over a year ago and only now have those words come back to haunt him. What would he do? Right then he felt like kicking himself for being such an idiot.

"Haruchan?" Kisa said looking at Hatsuharu who seemed to have fainted with his eyes open. "Did she tell me something secret?

"No, no!" Hatsuharu said snapping out of his trance. "Yes, I love Yuki very much but not in a romantic way."

"Then you're not-."

"No!" Hatsuharu answered exasperatedly, cutting Kisa off. "You get some strange ideas sometimes." Hatsuharu said smiling nervously and pulling Kisa close to his side.

"Kisa smiled to herself. The true nature of Hatsuharu's feelings toward Yuki had been bothering Kisa for sometime. She had rather not brought up the conversation but she had to know, it was crucial to her plan if she was ever going to when him over. Now the only thing Kisa had to worry about was defeating Yuki in battle.

"Kisachan, I have to get going, but after school tomorrow let's visit Kazumasensei, ok?"

"Right!" Kisa said nodding. Yes, Her first arterial arts lesson.

Friday, Hiro was still not talking to Kisa. Even though he was still recovering from the blow to his heart the previous day he still wanted to be her friend and be there for her when she needed him, but the pain he felt prevented him from saying so right away, so loving glances became piercing stares that Kisa hid her face from during their first and only class together that day. It bothered her that Hiro had not said anything to her, but she knew it would be best to leave him alone for the time being. After school Hatsuharu meet Kisa as promised and proceeded to the dojo.

"Haruchan, where's uncle Kazuma?" Kisa asked when they arrived to find the dojo empty.

"Don't worry he'll be here." Hatsuharu smiled.

"Afternoon." A familiar voice said from behind them.

"Yuki!" Hatsuharu said, his face lighting up, when he turned around and saw him standing in the door. Kisa smiled as well and ran over to hug him.

"Yunchan, Kisa said looking up at him. Do you still love me?" She asked her eyes seeming to be a million times larger than normal.

"Yes, of course I still love you, we all do."

"Not matter what?"

"No matter what." Yuki assured.

"I love you too. No matter what happens I love you too." Kisa said hugging him one last time then stepping away. Both boys were confused. Why the sudden outburst of emotion? "I'll go change now." Kisa said picking up her backpack and running to the back room to get ready. In her own cryptic way Kisa was warning Yuki of what was to come; however, Kisa's defeat over Yuki was going to come sooner than even she expected.

After changing into her uniform Kisa returned to the practice room to find that Kazuma had arrived.

"Ah, Yuki have you come for some sparing practice?" Kazuma asked, curious as to why Yuki decided to show up after all the time he spent away from the dojo.

"Well Haru told me that Kisa was going to start lessons. I just wanted to be here for support." Yunchan was so sweet for doing such a thing, yet it made Kisa angry. He would learn all her moves if he was there watching.

"Uncle Kazuma!" Kisa said pretending she had just entered the room.

"Ah, Kisachan, I haven't seen you since New Year's. How are you doing?

"I'm doing fine." Kisa answered.

"Well then, let's get started." Kazuma said

"We'll wait over there." Yuki said walking over to the far side of the room.

"Ok now we're going to start with blocking…" Kazuma said, but Kisa found herself half listening to him and more to the conversation Hatsuharu and Yuki were having

"Did you get my message?" Hatsuharu asked.

"Yes, I received it." Yuki answered.

"So, when do you want to go?" Hatsuharu asked seemingly calm.

"I don't plan on fighting you at all." Yuki answered even though he knew "no" was not an option.

"I guess I should have been the cat, then I wouldn't have had to ask you twice. In fact I wouldn't even have to ask at all." Hatsuharu said in the same monotone voice, but Kisa could tell by the look in his eyes serene thoughts were far from his mind and she was pretty sure Yuki had noticed too.

"Kisachan pay attention." Kazuma gently ordered.

"Uncle Kazuma, I mean Sensei, I'm very sorry. I'll pay closer attention tomorrow I promise." Kisa said from a bowed position on the floor.

"Tomorrow," Kazuma questioned.

"Yes, something just came up that I need to take care of right away." Kisa said as Hatsuharu and Yuki continued to argue their voices now audible to Kazuma who could not hear the hushed whispers from where he was presently standing.

"Haru, Yuki, is there a problem?" Kazuma asked not liking the looks on their faces as the two stood to their feet.

_"I have to do something." _Kisa thought. "Sensei, please continue to have me as your student." Kisa said suddenly hugging Kazuma and transforming. The loud noise of an explosion and the smoke was enough to get the two boys who were just about to fight attention.

Kazuma had fallen back on the floor shocked to see the large tiger before him. It was only a year ago that the zodiac tiger was small enough to be carried by a small child now she the size of a fully-grown tiger. Hatsuharu was speechless as he looked upon her.

"Kisa why did you-" Before Yuki could finish the question Kisa gave out a loud roar and pounced at him missing. Yuki had barely escaped. "Kisa, why are you doing this?" He demanded, but Kisa gave no response as she went after him again this time tackling him to the floor.

Kisa growled as she stood with her front paws holding him to the floor. In her zodiac form she was more powerful and faster. Yes, it may have been cheating but she didn't care, that could be argued. Either way she didn't want Hatsuharu ignoring her. Knocking out Yuki herself would insure he would pay attention to her. Kisa raised one of her paws preparing to strike. Yuki's eyes grew large. Reaching up he grabbed her ankle so tightly her claws extracted.

"Let go!" Kisa demanded. "I don't want to hurt you." Kisa said moving to knock him out with her other paw, but he grabbed that one too; both struggling against one another Kisa and Yuki ended up rolling across the floor.

Somehow Yuki was able to keep the tiger at bay and had her pinned, still holding on to her two front paws, but that didn't last for long. Kisa regained the upper hand by making a biting motion for Yuki's neck. Yuki gasped moving out of the way. Haru had been bitten by Kisa once and Tohru twice. Though she really was only trying to get them to run away from her at the time the bite from the small tiger hurt immensely is what they had told him, knowing that Yuki didn't want to experience a bite from a fully-grown tiger. In order to dodge the bite Yuki let go of Kisa's paws. Her plan had worked perfectly. The move Kisa had made to bite Yuki was a psyche out. Retracting her claws she used her right paw to knock the mouse into the wall unconscious. Everyone in the dojo was frozen in place speechless at what had just happened. Hatsuharu in particular couldn't believe Yuki was able to go at with a tiger even if it was "just Kisa" for as long as he did.

"Hi, everyone! Is Kyou here?" Kagura asked cheerily when she entered the dojo but her cheery mood dropped when she saw the shocked looks on everyone's faces. "What's going on?" She asked quietly. Turning her head to where Yuki and Kisa were gasped taking off her jacket as she ran over to them and covered Kisa with it who had suddenly returned to human form.

A few minutes later Kisa was in the women's changing room with Kagura fully dressed in her street clothes. At the moment Kagura was combing the younger girl's hair. "Kisachan, is it okay if I ask what happened?" Kagura asked once she was finished. Kisa hesitated which Kagura responded to with more coaxing to find out what happened. "It's just us women so you can tell me." She smiled.

"Well…" Kisa slowly started. "Haruchan and Yunchan had started arguing. You know Haruchan beat Kyouchan, right?" Kisa asked before she continued.

"What? My poor Kyoukun!" Kagura exploded.

"Kagura neesan…" Kisa said trying to regain the older girl's attention.

"Oh, um, yes I'll deal with him later." Kagura said causing Kisa to become nervous. Who did she mean by _him_?

"Haruchan and Yunchan are best friends so I really didn't want them fighting and plus Yunchan is better at martial arts than Haruchan." Kisa said starting to cry. "If Haruchan is spending all his time trying to beat Yunchan then I was afraid he wouldn't pay me anymore attention and forget about me."

"Oh, I see." Kagura smiled. "So you wanted to defeat Yunchan first."

"Un." Kisa nodded wiping the tears from her eyes.

"You know that will only make Haru come after you and that he's liable to go black then, right?"

"He might but I don't care. I don't want him paying attention to anyone else but me." Kisa answered. "I know it sounds dumb and selfish but that's how I feel, even if I am being stingy."

"So, you love him that much; no matter what the outcome even if he becomes Black Haru as long as he's with you…" Kagura said with a tear in her eye. "That's exactly how I feel about my Kyoukun!" She said bursting with happiness. "Kisachan," Kagura begin taking the younger girl's hands into her own. "For the sake of love let's do all we can to keep our men!"

"Hai!" Kisa answered with a cheerful smile."

Outside everyone was silent as Yuki lay on the porch still unconscious.

_"This is almost as bad as when Kyou started lessons with Yuki."_ Kazuma thought as he sat by Yuki's head. Hatsuharu was standing close by just as dumbfound as his sensei as to why Kisa would suddenly attack Yuki.

Groaning Yuki finally came to. Sitting up he put a hand to his forehead. "I have a headache." He said leaning forward.

"Are you ok?" Hatsuharu asked.

"Yeah. I just don't get why-." Yuki stopped short in his words and thought things over in his mind. _"She's acting just like Kagurasan."_ He though then gave Hatsuharu a sharp looked then sighed. _"But unlike Kyou Haru is too dense to notice. I guess he'll get it sooner or later." _He thought standing up. "I'm going home," he said and begin to leave.

"Wait I'll come with you." Hatsuharu said following him.

"Why don't you just stay here?" Yuki question after a heavy sigh.

"Because I'm concerned about you." Hatsuharu answered as they continued walking.

"Haruchan!" Kisa yelled from the dojo. After profusely apologizing to Kazuma who told her repeatedly not to worry about it. "Wait for me!" She said running up to them. When she caught up she looked at Yuki with unease. "I'm sorry," she said bowing.

"It couldn't be helped could it?" Yuki said sighing. "Just try and find a better way to go about these things, ok?" He said gently placing a hand on her head. "And you." Yuki said giving Hatsuharu a piercing glare.

"Me?" Hatsuharu asked caught of guard by the glare.

"I'm going home. Don't follow me." Yuki instructed then walked on. Hatsuharu frowned. He was just worried about him. Yuki really didn't have be so mean.

"Haruchan, would you go for a walk in the park with me?" Kisa asked as confidently as she could.

"Sure." He answered taking her hand. Perhaps he didn't feel the same way but as long as she was with him maybe he would see her for the young woman she was becoming and change his mind. This is what Kisa hoped and from that day on did what ever she could to show that she wasn't a child, not anymore.

A/N: I honestly don't believe there is anything romantic about their relationship at all. Haru is more of a big brother for Kisa but in the anime it isn't really made clear that Kisa would never think about Haru in a lovey-dovey way and sometimes signals can get mixed (or just misunderstood.) and I've decide to play with that to the extreme with this one.


End file.
